1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric wire protective cap to provide insulation and waterproof from outside to a joint portion of the electric wires of a wiring harness.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a conventional protective cap (pages 3 to 4, FIG. 1 in JP, H08-22847, A).
The electric wire protective cap 61 provides insulation and waterproof to a joint portion 66 of electric wires 67 of a wiring harness and is made of a synthetic resin and has a cap main body 62 with a bottom and a plurality of flexible locking lances 63 within the cap main body.
The locking lances 63 are formed at an opening 64 to be outwardly extending at thin hinges 65 when molding and are folded to be received into the cap main body after the molding. This originates from the difficulty of die-cutting of the locking lances 63 at the molding.
The joint portion 66 is formed in a manner that insulation sheaths of the plurality of the electric wires 67 are removed at ends of the electric wires to expose core wires and the core wires are inserted into an electrically conductive metal sleeve and depressed with the sleeve. Distal ends of the locking lances 63 abut to a rear end of the sleeve to prevent the joint portion 66 from being pulled out of the cap main body 62.
An improvement of waterproof by injecting a synthetic resin seal into the cap main body is disclosed in JP, H10-243539 (pages 3 to 4, FIGS. 1 to 5).
There are several problems in the conventional protective cap 61 as follows.
Since the locking lances 63 are arranged inside the cap main body 62, the production of the locking lance requires more time and cost. When the seal material is filled into the cap main body to achieve the waterproof of the joint portion, unless the seal material is completely solidified, the seal material spills outside of the cap main body when the main body lies down. When an effervescent sealing material is utilized, the seal material spills outside, even when the cap is hold upright, during solidification of the effervescent sealing material.